Page 5677 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 6 December 2011
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That is the scheme we are being asked to approve today, and we are being asked to approve that scheme in the context of a government that has completely mismanaged the solar feed-in to date. We are being asked to approve of such a scheme in light of the numerous failures of feed-in tariff schemes around the country and other green schemes which were well intentioned but which ended up costing taxpayers far too much for little or no environmental benefit. Again, what we are being asked to do today is to sign a blank cheque for a minister who has proved that he cannot be trusted in delivering on these things.
This is a very dangerous scheme. In the briefing yesterday we were told that this goes back to the government’s election promise. Of course, their election promise was significantly different. In the context of what we are being asked to approve today, it seemed to have more merit. It was certainly more tangible. It promised a $30 million contribution to the initiative. It was real; taxpayers could see where their money was going. Its aim to provide electricity to approximately 10,000 homes was clear, and its specification for a solar panel of at least 30 megawatts was generally understood.
If I recall correctly, 23 proposals were submitted for this project. The director for the ANU centre for sustainable energy systems, Professor Andrew Blakers, saw the solar fund as a potential educational testing and certification facility with industry development potential. This was shelved in favour of the government’s mismanaged feed-in scheme. This was a broken promise on the part of the government.
So we are left with the questions of what this legislation will do and whether we should approve it. The Canberra Liberals’ position is that we should not, for a few reasons. We should not be giving a blank cheque to the government on feed-in tariffs. We should not approve a scheme that will allow generation to take place well away from the ACT, therefore limiting any economic benefit to the ACT as a result of that activity, and that will allow that electricity to be fed into the grid so that Canberra families are forced to pay more for their electricity to fund generation over the border so that we can have a target eight times the national average which will allow other states to emit more. That is what the 40 per cent target does, and that is what the solar feed-in does, particularly in its current form in the way that it is being presented to us today.
We were told there would be all sorts of benefits to the local economy as a result of this. This legislation does not provide for that. We have no confidence that this government will be able to keep this scheme in check. We do not know what the price will be. We have no idea how much it will cost. This government cannot tell us how much this scheme will cost. The Canberra Liberals will not sign a blank cheque for this government. We will be on the record in this place as opposing this because it is Canberra families who will suffer as a result. They will suffer for no environmental benefit. They will suffer so that Simon Corbell can get a headline claiming to be doing something.
Let us put into context what he is doing. What will be approved today by the Assembly if this legislation goes through is a blank cheque for Simon Corbell. It is no guarantee that one part of renewable energy will be produced within the ACT or even
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